Setting up a Wi-Fi hotspot on your phone

Tags: Pocket WiFi

Share your phone’s internet with other devices through Wi-Fi

Want to connect your Wi-Fi device to the internet through your phone? Most smartphones have a ‘hotspot’ feature that lets you share its mobile internet connection over Wi-Fi with other devices, like laptops and tablets.

What it costs

On almost all of our plans, the data used by devices that are connected to your hotspot will come out of your phone plan’s data inclusion. If you’re not sure about your entitlements, check your plan info in My Vodafone and look for 'tethering'.

If hotspot is chewing through your data and you need some more, check out our data management page.

How to set it up

You’ll find instructions for most phones in our interactive user guides but to make things a bit easier, we’ve got the steps for some of the more common ones below:

Apple iPhone (iOS 5 and above)

Step 1

If this is the first time you've used a Personal Hotspot on your phone, you'll need to switch it on by tapping 'General', 'Cellular', 'Personal Hotspot' and switching it to 'On'. Then, you’ll see 'Personal Hotspot' in the settings menu.

Step 2

From the home screen, select 'Settings'.

Step 3

Select 'Personal Hotspot'.

Step 4

Set your Personal Hotspot to 'On'.

Step 5

Once it's active, you can choose a password for your Personal Hotspot by selecting 'Wi-Fi Password'. We highly recommend you set-up a password to protect your Personal Hotspot from unauthorised access.

Step 6

Pick a password that is a minimum of 8 characters, then select 'Done'.

Deactivation

To turn off your hotspot, follow steps 1 to 3 above, changing the setting to 'Off'.

Android (2.3 and above)

Step 1

From the home screen, select 'Settings'.

Step 2

Android 2.3+ - Select 'Wireless & networks'

Android 4.0+ - Select 'More...' under 'Wireless and networks'

Step 3

Select 'Tethering and portable hotspot'.

Step 4

Tick the 'Portable Wi-Fi Hotspot' box or toggle the switch to turn it on.